To Powder coat or 2 pack my chassis

[RobinTR6]

My refurbished cssis has now been sand blasted. We have a bit of welding to do then its D-day. The sand blasting cost £100 and the man has offered to reblast it, rust proof, prime and powdercoat for another £50 . I was planning on painting the chassis following advice from the forum. But I am attracted to the powder coat given the paint will cost more that the £50 to powder coat.

 

Yes, yes still pulling the hair out over how best to strip body, that the next crisis tho

 

Any final thoughts appreciated

 

thanks

Robin

[RogerH]

Hi Robin,

the powder coat will look pretty even while the chassis is disappearing, due to rust, behind it.

 

It does not stop rusting

 

If you use a traditional chassis paint system - clean metal work, very good under coat(bondaprimer, corroless, etch primer) something to reduce oxygen transfer, flexible top coat (chassis black etc) you will have the opportunity to inspect the chassis, as and when, and action any simple touch ups - not easy with PC.

 

Do as Stuart said - you know it makes sense.

 

All that glitters is not gold - the chassis is out of sight and under constant attack from the elements. . Give it some good protection.

 

Roger

[littlejim]

I did mine with POR-15, I'm sure it cost more than that. The powder coat should stop outside rust as well as anything else.

it will probably rust from the inside. Much harder to paint in there.

[88V8]

If I went to buy a car and found it had a powder coat chassis, it would be a serious put-off. Even worse than Hammerite.

 

Given how much trouble it is to get the chassis to the point where it's ready for painting, one would have to be quite bonkers to use anything other than the best paint - the cost is trivial compared to the work involved in stripping the car, repairing the chassis, etc etc.

 

POR15 or Epoxy Mastic.

Powder Coat is for dummies.

 

Ivor

[Bald Rick]

Robin

 

My new chassis came from CTM. It was etchprimed and two pack painted. It cost a lot more than £50 but I will sleep better at nights! I have also used David's Zinc182 with good results in the past.

 

Don't use powder coating. I have just had the rear shock conversion brackets powder coated. They look great but on close examination I can see small places where rust can get a foothold, so I will be sealing some of the joints and corners with silicone or similar. I should have had them etchprimed and two packed same as the chassis.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

[stuart]

Powdercoat a chassis, in a word NO!

Stuart.

[RogerH]

Hi Robin,

if you go for the normal paint scheme then a good pre-treatment undercoat is Zinga (previously known as Zinc Guard).

It is a serious zinc primer and claims made for it are impressive. A 2Kg tin is apprx £36 and may just about cover a whole chassis.

 

Roger

[had17462]

Robin, if you look at the tr250 forum there is a jasmine one on there which has been powdercoated and it looks great much better than painting , but if your going to use the car you are much better to do as the guys have said in the previous posts .

nick.

[RobinTR6]

Robin, if you look at the tr250 forum there is a jasmine one on there which has been powdercoated and it looks great much better than painting , but if your going to use the car you are much better to do as the guys have said in the previous posts .

nick.

 

 

OK then PAINT it is, rust proof, primer and chassis black paint, many thanks boys

[simonjrwinter]

Just out of interest, powder coating should ONLY be applied to surfaces that have been blasted to give them a surface to grip on. Surfaces wiped over with degreaser the powder coated will have the coating flake off, a complete waste of money. Sorry, no advice on the chassis (i probably wouldn't powder coat) but smaller parts with the edges knocked off (ie smoothed with a wire brush wheel) will take it well and look good. It's ALL in the preparation....much like normal paint!

IMHO.

 

Simon

[RogerH]

Hi Robin,

are you sure?

 

Roger

[Guest ntc]

Robin

Ok it is not new you could get it dipped and then get it hot dipped galvanised the additional weight is not an issue and it will out live us all

Edited October 10, 2009 by ntc

[wheeler]

Hi Robin

 

Hammerite always gets bad press on the Forum, I don't know why, 7 years ago I had my basket case TR6 chassis professionally repaired and sand blasted I painted the outside with several coats of Hammerite smooth and used my compressor and a paraffin spray and plastic tubing to 'spray' the inside with 3 or 4 coats. I also sprayed the inside with waxoil using the same method. Three weeks ago during the annual MOT the garage had the car up on the lift and the inspector commented how good the condition of the chassis was, apart from a few minor stone chips there is no sign of rust. I also sprayed all the suspension components with Hammerite smooth and they are also still looking very good.

 

Since I completed the restoration 5 years ago the car has been used all year round in all weathers and in that time she has done around 16,000 miles.

Am I the only TR owner with good experience of Hammerite?

 

Regards

 

Bill

[Ragtag]

Hi Robin

 

Hammerite always gets bad press on the Forum, I don't know why, 7 years ago I had my basket case TR6 chassis professionally repaired and sand blasted I painted the outside with several coats of Hammerite smooth and used my compressor and a paraffin spray and plastic tubing to 'spray' the inside with 3 or 4 coats. I also sprayed the inside with waxoil using the same method. Three weeks ago during the annual MOT the garage had the car up on the lift and the inspector commented how good the condition of the chassis was, apart from a few minor stone chips there is no sign of rust. I also sprayed all the suspension components with Hammerite smooth and they are also still looking very good.

 

Since I completed the restoration 5 years ago the car has been used all year round in all weathers and in that time she has done around 16,000 miles.

Am I the only TR owner with good experience of Hammerite?

 

Regards

 

Bill

 

No. I love it but it aint as good as it used to be!

[Tony Millward]

Robin

Ok it is not new you could get it dipped and then get it hot dipped galvanised the additional weight is not an issue and it will out live us all

 

 

Robin,

 

If I were to go through my chassis resto again, Hot dipped galvanised is THE way to go as Neil said. Total protection which shouldn't cost a lot. My next TR will be done like that. (Yes, there will be another but don't tell my wife)...

 

Cheers

 

Tony

[littlejim]

Has somebody actually had a bad experience with powder coating, or was somebody told it was no good by a man called Tom and we all repeat that.

I preferred to paint mine but would have thought that powder coating ended up like POR-15 but probably gripped better because of the electrostatic charge during application, plus the baking on.

[Tony Millward]

Has somebody actually had a bad experience with powder coating, or was somebody told it was no good by a man called Tom and we all repeat that.

I preferred to paint mine but would have thought that powder coating ended up like POR-15 but probably gripped better because of the electrostatic charge during application, plus the baking on.

 

Hi Jim,

 

Powder coating is normally ok for static items, I have my emergency phones powder coated. Where P/C falls down is in it's application. As it is applied electrostatically, it tends to migrate to areas of a larger charge, sometimes giving inside corners a very thin coat if at any all. Because the chassis flexes in normal use, there is the strong possibility of the coating cracking. This would allow water in to rust between the coating and the steel. Hope this helps.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

Edited October 11, 2009 by Tonymill

[littlejim]

thanks Tony, thought it was like POR15, pretty flexible, thus not prone to cracking. Also thought I'd seen bods on other car forums heavily into it for chassis(es).

just wanted to know if someone who has used has had an actual failure on the chassis. otherwise it would look pretty good theoretically, like the SLC process mentioned elsewhere.

[stuart]

thanks Tony, thought it was like POR15, pretty flexible, thus not prone to cracking. Also thought I'd seen bods on other car forums heavily into it for chassis(es).

just wanted to know if someone who has used has had an actual failure on the chassis. otherwise it would look pretty good theoretically, like the SLC process mentioned elsewhere.

Jaguar started powder coating the front suspension subframes on the XJ 40 range and boy you should see the rot that they ended up with and how the coating would come off in sheets after a few years and there would be virtually nothing left of the frame. So yes I have seen enough of its use to not recommend it. The chassis on my 2 is galvanized and was obviously done many years ago and its still perfect although I believe care does need to be taken due to the heat of the process. I dont think the weight addition is that much.

Stuart.

[RobinTR6]

Jaguar started powder coating the front suspension subframes on the XJ 40 range and boy you should see the rot that they ended up with and how the coating would come off in sheets after a few years and there would be virtually nothing left of the frame. So yes I have seen enough of its use to not recommend it. The chassis on my 2 is galvanized and was obviously done many years ago and its still perfect although I believe care does need to be taken due to the heat of the process. I dont think the weight addition is that much.

Stuart.

 

 

Yep, seems like Zinga or whatever (Galvanise paint), some red oxide, and the 2 pack epoxy chassis paint for the chassis and suspension. Bit of a pain with my offer but it sounds like the recommended option by all. I'm still bemused why the likes of the TRGB etc always powder coat the chassis when restoring, I've quizzed them as well and they are just as wedded to powder as the forum seems to be to paint. My american engineer who is a harley man swears that in the US its always powded no question and like most americans he believes we dont have a clue and they are the experts.

[Guest ntc]

Yep, seems like Zinga or whatever (Galvanise paint), some red oxide, and the 2 pack epoxy chassis paint for the chassis and suspension. Bit of a pain with my offer but it sounds like the recommended option by all. I'm still bemused why the likes of the TRGB etc always powder coat the chassis when restoring, I've quizzed them as well and they are just as wedded to powder as the forum seems to be to paint. My american engineer who is a harley man swears that in the US its always powded no question and like most americans he believes we dont have a clue and they are the experts.

 

 

Galvafroid you pays your money take your choice better dipped though

[david ferry]

In respect of galvanizing a chassis, there are a number of considerations:

 

What's the state of a secondhand chassis internally?

 

Heat distortion caused by the hot dip galvanizing process.

 

Holes must be drilled into enclosed sections to allow 100% coverage and also hot gasses to escape.

 

The problems caused in the future should you need to do any welding on the chassis.

 

I have considered this over the years on different cars.

 

Next time, I'll start with either an excellent or brand new chassis, drill holes into the enclosed sections, send it off to Surface Processing Limited for de-rusting and e-coating internally and externally, 2-pack paint and dinitrol (not waxoil).

 

David

[Guest ntc]

In respect of galvanizing a chassis, there are a number of considerations:

 

What's the state of a secondhand chassis internally?

 

Heat distortion caused by the hot dip galvanizing process.

 

Holes must be drilled into enclosed sections to allow 100% coverage and also hot gasses to escape.

 

The problems caused in the future should you need to do any welding on the chassis.

 

I have considered this over the years on different cars.

 

Next time, I'll start with either an excellent or brand new chassis, drill holes into the enclosed sections, send it off to Surface Processing Limited for de-rusting and e-coating internally and externally, 2-pack paint and dinitrol (not waxoil).

 

David

 

David

1. That is why I said it needed to be dipped first

2. Up here in steel city there are those that know how to do it correctly

3.Correct but so what it ain't going to rust anymore

4. Why? you would not need to do any even so it can be done

[johnny250]

As usual on a forum you get plenty of ideas....I'm one of Ivors dummies having had my chassis blasted and powder coated, along with all removable suspension parts etc..... the chassis was well sprayed with clear Waxoyl inside and out. As the car was reassembled every, panel, seam, nut and bolt was brushed with Waxoyl. All seems well and I expect the car will outlast me....I'm not sure if it will make it into the next millenium though.... I do use it all weathers too.....

 

john

Edited October 11, 2009 by johnny250

[BrianC]

I'm still bemused why the likes of the TRGB etc always powder coat the chassis when restoring

Just thought I'd make it clear that TRGB (and probably most of the other TR restorers) don't always powder coat.

 

When my TR3A chassis returned to them after its restoration by CTM thay gave me all the usual choices - various paint options, galvanising, powder coat, etc. I decided, partially on their advice and a number of previous restoration stories I had read, to opt for powder coat. I know that it's now much better protected than when it was new and will outlast me and probably a few future owners as well, so I won't lose any sleep about possibly having made the wrong decision.

 

If an original chassis has survived this long, a restored one will last at least as long again provided it is checked once a year for any surface treatment damage.

 

This debate is a bit like the various medical reports that advise us that 'x' is good for our health, to be followed by another a few months later saying that 'x' will cause premature death.